An attitude center is made up of accelerometers and magnetometers and is adapted to perform processing to determine the orientation in space of a solid carrying the attitude center.
One such device is known in particular from the French document FR 02 04260.
The device described in that document produces an estimate of angles of rotation of the solid up to 360° and is completely autonomous of the medium in which the solid is moving.
Moreover, such attitude centers do not necessitate the use of rate gyros, which reduces the cost of the device and its overall size.
The attitude center described in the document FR 02 04260 treats the orientation of the solid as an unknown in the measurement model and the processing of the signals coming from the attitude center.
If the acceleration of the movement of the solid is high compared to the gravitational acceleration, the estimated angles are subject to error since the acceleration caused by the movement of the solid is associated with the acceleration caused by gravity.
Moreover, the very medium in which the solid moves can generate magnetic disturbances that are not taken into account by the prior art attitude center.